A senior Russian diplomat says Washington’s “unjustifiable” insistence on zero enrichment in Iran runs counter to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and poses a threat to global peace and security.
In a post on his X account on Wednesday, Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said the US is “obsessed” with banning uranium enrichment in Iran, which goes against the NPT and elementary common sense.
He added that such a “totally ideologized and unjustifiable” approach is fraught with constant danger to international peace and security.
His post came as President Donald Trump, at the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, claimed the “total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear program in US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The American assault came more than a week after the Israeli regime launched an unprovoked and unlawful aggression against the Islamic Republic on June 13, assassinating several top-ranking military commanders, scientists and ordinary civilians.
Contrary to Trump’s claims, a leaked preliminary assessment by the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) found that the Sunday attacks caused only minimal damage to the facilities in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
The report also noted that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile remains intact despite Trump claiming that the country’s nuclear program was finished.
Iran has dismissed claims of “obliteration” of its nuclear sites and vowed to continue robustly expanding its peaceful nuclear energy program.
In a phone call with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on Saturday, President Masoud Pezeshkian reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to a peaceful nuclear energy program as well as dialogue based on mutual respect, stressing that international rights cannot be taken away through war or threats.
“The rights granted to nations under international law cannot be taken away through war and threats,” Pezeshkian said.
Iran, he said, is ready for dialogue and cooperation to build confidence around its peaceful nuclear activities but it will never accept demands to halt the enrichment program.